Yes, as legend has it, one of Peruna’s predecessors allegedly kicked the Fordham Ram mascot — a live ram — so hard that it killed it.
DALLAS — Peruna, SMU’s built-like-a-middle-linebacker miniature pony of a mascot, had to flex on Texas’ Bevo this week when news came down that the famed Longhorn wouldn’t be allowed to travel to the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta.
“Can’t relate,” Peruna posted on SMU football’s X account.
Silly longhorn.
The pithy exchange was another notch in Peruna’s newfound growing legend amid SMU’s return to big-time college football.
Peruna does what he wants.
Even when a ram gets in his way.
Yes, as legend has it, one of Peruna’s predecessors — SMU is on Peruna IX, by the way — allegedly kicked the Fordham Ram mascot — a live ram — so hard that it killed it.
This tale of Peruna’s deadly antics surfaced again this week when Texas Football Life shared the story about “the only mascot to have ever killed another mascot,” explaining the infamous Peruna v. Ram incident that happened in 1934.
SMU’s own website retells the story in an archived post from 2011, saying Peruna killed the mascot “with a swift kick to the head when he wandered too close.” The alleged homicide — hey, maybe it was self-defense? — was said to have happened at an SMU-Fordham game in New York City, where Peruna rode around town in a cab.
But here’s the catch: There’s no *actual* documentation that Peruna’s deadly encounter with the Fordham Ram ever happened.
There was, indeed, a notable mascot death in 1934.
But it wasn’t the Fordham Ram, from what we can tell.
It was Peruna.
The original Peruna I, who debuted in 1932, escaped his SMU stable one night in October 1934, only to get struck by a car on Mockingbird Lane.
Peruna’s death was covered as far away as New York, where The New York Times ran an account from the Associated Press. Peruna’s famed cab-riding trip to the Fordham game in New York had happened just a week earlier.
“Peruna — the little “wild hoss” of Southern Methodist University — rested in death tonight a few short paces from the gridiron on which he pranced to fame and glory,” the AP story read. “He had been around and seen things. Only last week he had New York City under his tiny hoofs. He was right now hand when the Methodists swamped Fordham’s Rams, 26-14. But last night all his experience deserted him. He sneaked away from his stable. An automobile struck him down. The driver fled.”
Flashback Dallas’ Paula Bosse has posted about the original Peruna’s demise and included the Dallas Morning News’ overwrought coverage of the pony’s funeral.
“As co-eds sobbed openly and hardened football heroes found difficulty in brushing back the tears, the body of the diminutive pony was lowered into its grave in the shadow of Ownby Oval,” the Morning News story said. “His coffin was draped in red and blue, the school colors, and a huge M, the Mustang emblem, graced the top of the casket.”
So what does Peruna’s pedestrian death have to do with the Fordham Ram getting kicked in the head?
Well, the legend of Peruna killing the ram, at least the one perpetuated on social media this week, is that it happened 90 years ago, in 1934. Specifically, it happened on SMU’s trip to New York City to play Fordham.
But after Peruna was killed on Mockingbird Lane, Fordham’s football program, according to the AP story at the time, sent “heartfelt condolences” about Peruna’s “unfortunate demise.”
Even the Fordham student newspaper sent SMU a note.
“Members of the staff of the Fordham Ram offer sincerest sympathy to Mustangs upon untimely death of Peruna. Trust his successor may carry on for S.M.U. as nobly.”
Even the Fordham mascot — the same ram who was allegedly killed by Peruna — was down in the dumps over his passing.
Rameses VI was reportedly moping “sullenly about his grazing area,” the AP reported. “All day that ram has been sulky,” his keeper said. “Maybe it’s animal intuition. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Rameses knew that Peruna was dead.”
So whether Peruna killed a mascot or not, it didn’t happen in 1934. Just don’t get too close to him.